Chapter Text
*Claire is klein’s niece(in this fic. In canon it’s alice(from what wiki says I haven’t read COI)
*There are some hidden hints of Lenk(leoklein), but you can treat it as CB(platonic pairing).
*ooc belongs to the author
*You’re welcome to catch any amons(bugs/errors) in my translation
summary: Claire blinked her brown eyes and said, “This is a gift from you, uncle.”
.
The crimson moonlight streamed through the window.
Klein squinted his eyes, yawning like a lazy cat.
Melissa was still reading beside him, the dim light flickering and emitting a warm glow.
“Klein,”
Melissa looked up at her second brother, who looked a little tired, and asked,
“Are you sleepy? How about going to bed now?”
Actually, it was still a while before Klein's normal bedtime, but so much had happened recently that he was too busy to even think about it.
Klein rubbed his brows and thought:
Resting is the most important thing. I can definitely read these books next time.
Just as he was about to say goodnight to Melissa and go to bed, there was a knock on the door.
“Who's there?”
Klein walked over and opened the door. Someone was actually looking for him at this hour.
No, that isn’t necessarily the case.
He opened the door and saw the pale corpse collector, Frye, standing before him.
“Frye?”
Klein wasn't overly surprised; he was simply curious about what was going on.
“Is there something going on at the company?”
Frye nodded, casually glancing around the room. He said to Melissa,
“I'm Klein's colleague.” Then he said to Klein,
“It's a long story. Come with me first.”
Klein was a little confused. He smiled at Melissa, told her not to worry, and followed Frye out the door.
It was late at night, and the streets were deserted. Only the crimson moonlight shone upon the two of them.
Klein couldn't help but ask out of curiosity,
“So, what happened?”
A slightly odd look appeared on Frye's previously expressionless face. After a moment, he said,
“Klein, do you have a niece?”
“...ah?”
Half an hour ago, Dunn returned to Blackthorn Security Company and brought back a little girl.
The little girl looked about six or seven years old and was very cute.
She looked a bit like Klein, with a gentle brown eye color. She wore an exquisite and beautiful hairpin on her head, an amulet on her chest, and a silver bracelet on her wrist.
Her clothes felt comfortable and soft to the touch, and the workmanship was fine.
It was obvious at a glance that they had cost a lot of money, and she was at least born into a middle-class family.
Dunn picked her up on his way home.
He was afraid that a little girl like her would be harmed by someone with bad intentions, so he brought her back to Blackthorn Security Company.
He led the little girl to the reception room, handed her a candy, and stared at her with his deep gray eyes. He asked,
“What's your name? Why aren't you home at such late hour?”
“My name is Claire Moretti. I don't know. I... maybe I accidentally moved my uncle's things and ended up here... I don't know where I am or how I got here...”
The little girl sat on the chair, shaking her short legs. Her voice became lower and lower, with a hint of guilt that could not be ignored.
Claire Moretti?
Dunn's expression was a bit strange, and even Frye and Leonard, who had just walked in, were stunned.
“Is Klein Moretti your father? And who is your uncle? Where are your parents?”
Claire shook her head and said sweetly,
“No, Klein is my uncle. My father said that he named me in memory of him, but then my uncle came back...”
The little girl paused and changed the subject,
“My father's name is Benson Moretti, and my mother's name is Ruth(Lucy) Moretti.”
Dunn's brow furrowed.
According to his research, Klein's brother, Benson Moretti, didn't have a lover, let alone children.
Leonard happened to be on duty at the company, and upon hearing this, he spoke with a hint of astonishment,
“But, as far as I know, Klein's brother doesn't have a wife?”
Claire looked over with a huge smile on her face, as if she had met someone she trusted. She trotted over, grabbed Leonard's clothes, and shouted,
“Uncle Leonard!”
“?”
Leonard's mind went blank. Not to mention the sudden use of the term “uncle”,
how did Claire know him? He didn't even know Claire.
He was a bit flustered, and only calmed down when he heard the parasite in his body sneer. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when he heard Claire say,
“Huh? Uncle Leonard? Did you get a haircut? Why is it so short?”
Leonard subconsciously replied,
“My hair is always this long.”
“No!”
Claire protested. She gestured to Leonard,
“It was originally... this long!”
Leonard's face was full of questions. Although he didn't usually take care of his hair, it wouldn't be that long.
Claire looked at Leonard's confused expression and seemed to understand something. She touched her hairpin and said angrily,
“You had dinner with us yesterday! Today you're pretending not to know me!”
As she spoke, her voice suddenly trailed off, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“Uncle Leonard, don't you want to play with Claire anymore?”
“No... I didn't...”
Leonard had no experience coaxing children, and a look of embarrassment and panic crossed his pretty face.
Fortunately, Seeka arrived. The author smiled and jokingly said,
“It's not polite for a lady to come here so late at night.”
Then, she strode towards Leonard, picked up Claire, and said softly, somewhat awkwardly,
“It's okay. Your Uncle Klein will be here soon.”
She changed the subject and asked,
“Claire, your hairpin is so beautiful. Who gave it to you?”
Claire stopped crying and answered honestly,
“My uncle gave it to me. I like it too.”
Seeka nodded and looked at Dunn.
“Frye went to call Klein, right? And...”
She paused deliberately and said,
“Captain, have you forgotten that I'm still a single woman? It's better for you to call Mrs. Orianna.”
Dunn smiled helplessly.
“It's not good to call an elderly person so late.”
Fortunately, Seeka didn't care about it. She just didn't know what to do next, so she pushed Claire to Leonard again.
Leonard held Claire in his arms, somewhat at a loss. He was afraid that he would accidentally drop the little girl in his arms.
Even if she wasn't Klein's niece, he would still be afraid...
He was in a trance as he thought of this. He looked into Claire's eyes, her brown pupils moist.
He couldn't help but think of the little seer's brown eyes, which were gentle and like honey.
He looked carefully and found that the little girl's facial features and face shape were somewhat similar to Klein's.
Her face had a little more baby fat, making it look softer.
The parasite inside his body suddenly said
“Huh?” in his mind.
Leonard couldn't bring himself to call the old man in front of Claire, so he looked at Dunn and shouted,
“Captain... She really seems to be Klein's niece. They look quite similar.”
Dunn nodded and said,
“Yes, I noticed that too. Now let's wait for Klein to come and do an...investigation.”
Dunn was mindful of not exposing extraordinary things to ordinary people, even though she was a child and wouldn’t care what adults said.
When Klein arrived, he saw the little girl being held obediently in Leonard's arms.
He subconsciously tapped his brow to activate his spirit vision, and was nearly blinded by the brilliance of the numerous extraordinary items on Claire's body.
Before he could close his clairvoyance, he heard a cheer,
“Uncle! You're here!!”
Claire leaped, trying to escape Leonard's arms. Fearing she'd fall, Leonard was momentarily at a loss.
Klein smiled at him, then reached out and took Claire in his arms, softly saying,
“Why do you think I'm your uncle?”
Claire replied confidently,
“Because you are my uncle! If you don't believe me, you can do a divination!”
For a moment, everyone present was stunned. After a silence of about three or four seconds, Klein asked,
“Do you know about the extraordinary?”
“Yes!”
Claire said with a sly smile,
“My first experience with the occult was with Aunt Melissa and you.”
Klein's eyebrows jumped. Melissa...
Under everyone's gaze, he took out a citrine pendulum from his left wrist and began to do divination.
Claire is my niece...
Claire is my niece...
Claire is my niece…
Klein repeated this statememt silently several times before he felt a tugging sensation on his hand.
The pendulum moved happily and vigorously in a clockwise direction.
Claire said angrily,
“See, I told you I'm your niece.”
Klein thought about it and decided to do another divination.
Although he felt that his idea was ridiculous, he thought...
if you couldn't handle something yourself, leave it to the spirit!
(this seems to be a Chinese phrase, I can’t find a translation that makes sense TT)
In front of Claire and everyone else, Klein did another divination.
Claire is from the future...
Claire is from the future...
Claire is from the future...
The silver chain remained motionless, as if Klein hadn't performed any divination.
Claire stood by, a look of sudden enlightenment on her face, along with... a hint of guilt.
Klein looked at the crowd, who had fallen into a state of dementia, and briefly offered a forced smile.
“My divination seems to have been disrupted.”
Dunn came back to his senses and calmly instructed Frye,
“Frye, go file a report to the Holy Cathedral first.”
“Okay.”
Frye turned and left. Then Dunn looked at Claire and said gently,
“I remember you said before that you might have moved something of your uncle's that brought you here. Do you remember what it was?”
Claire felt a little uneasy and her words stumbled.
“It should be...it should be a small box, at least the Extraordinary Characteristics of the Scholar of Yore.”
Hmm? Everyone looked bewildered upon hearing the name Scholar of Yore.
Within his host's head, Pallez sighed and said,
“Sequence Three Seers are called Scholar of Yore.”
“Bang!”
With a loud bang, everyone forgot about whatever just happened. Leonard smiled mischievously and said,
“Sorry, I almost knocked over the water bottle just now.”
Hehe... As expected...
Just as this thought flashed through Klein's mind, he heard Claire beside him grumble quietly,
“Uncle Leonard is still so careless...”
Klein suppressed his urge to laugh and asked seriously,
“What year was it over there?”
He still held onto his belief, considering he had already transmigrated, it wasn't impossible for Claire to have traveled back from the future...
“1372,”
Claire answered seriously, but her tone quickly turned resentful.
“But uncle, you slept for three years...”
Huh?
Klein's expression was about to crack.
Slept for three years?? This should be the mystical equivalent of sleeping for three years, right?!
He muttered inwardly.
Seeing his expression, Claire thought he didn't believe it, so she said seriously,
“It's true that you slept for three years. Before that, uncle, you slept for almost ten years. This is considered good compared to that. Not to mention that you often fell into a deep sleep later...”
Klein faced the crowd's strange looks and forced a smile,
“Did your uncle stay with you well afterwards?”
Claire thought for a moment and said,
“Uncle will make delicious food! He will also let me play with his tentacles!”
Klein's expression couldn't help but crack once again.
What? What the hell? Tentacles? His?
Suddenly, his mind flashed back to the many strange and bizarre books he'd seen in his past life. He forced his gaze and said in a feigned seriousness,
“Let's not talk about that for now. Let's first discuss why you have so much mystical items on you.”
“Mystical items?”
Claire tilted her head, looking puzzled. Klein coughed lightly and pointed at the hairpin on Claire's head.
“This hairpin...”
He couldn't say that this hairpin almost blinded him.
“Hmm?”
Claire touched the butterfly hairpin on her head and blinked her brown eyes.
“This is a gift from you, uncle.”
“…”
Klein’s expression cracked again.
Dunn took the hairpin, looked it over, and said thoughtfully,
”It doesn't look aggressive at the moment. We'll see when the people from the cathedral arrive.”
Claire sat aside with her knees hugged, pouting and looking unhappy.
All the extraordinary items on her body were taken away, including the talismans and the amulet on her chest.
Claire trusted Klein the most, so even if she was initially reluctant, she reluctantly agreed to her gifts being taken away after her uncle persuaded her.
Dunn stood by, looking thoughtful.
Coming from the future... at first, it seemed absurd, but now, judging by the girl's deep trust in Klein, it wasn't impossible.
He thought of the box Claire had mentioned and silently assessed the level of that extraordinary item in his heart.
Well, at least level one. It seems Klein did quite well in the church later on...
"How many Beyonder characteristics are there?"
Leonard asked casually.
"Three,"
a childish voice echoed. The little girl sat beside him, hugging her knees as she spoke seriously,
"'Seer,' 'Apprentice,' and 'Marauder,' I think? Those are the three. I don't know what their sequence is... but they should be at least three or four."
Oh my god... this... this... this Beyonder characteristic of a Demigod?
Klein felt his outlook on life and the world crumble. Remember, the captain was only a Sequence Seven! He trembled as he performed a divination.
Claire is a Beyonder...
Claire is a Beyonder...
Claire is a Beyonder...
The pendulum, carrying the silver chain, spun slightly counterclockwise.
Klein breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone's eyes were fixed on him, as if hit by the fooling ability of the fool.
Leonard grasped the amulet, feeling a steady flow of warmth, restoring his spirituality. He asked in a trembling voice,
“What about... this?”
Claire blinked and asked doubtfully,
“Isn't it just an ordinary amulet?”
The old voice in his mind sounded the next second, with an inexplicable emotion:
“Hmph... ordinary. The spiritual power in it may not disappear for hundreds or thousands of years.”
Leonard was shocked for a moment, then put it back. The look in his eyes when he looked at Klein and Claire became even stranger.
Klein felt his entire body crawl under the gaze of those green eyes, but Claire, as if she had unlocked some kind of talent, pointed at the pile of extraordinary items and said,
“This bracelet was given to me by Uncle Roselle. He said that if I encounter a problem I can't get rid of, I can use it to distort space or the laws of nature. The side effect is that my brain will become a little dizzy, so I think the hairpin my uncle gave me is better...”
She fell silent, looked at the group of people who looked like stone sculptures, and asked in confusion,
“What's wrong with you?”
Oh my god...
Klein's eyes were glazed over, his mind racing with thoughts.
Wasn't Emperor Roselle dead? Why would he make a bracelet for Claire? No, Roselle and I are from the same hometown. It's only natural to give it to me, to my niece. The key point is, Roselle is dead.
Klein was deeply confused.
Could it be that he was resurrected later?!
Klein was frightened by this thought. He looked at the people around him, their faces filled with deep confusion.
No, huh?
So who will Klein Moretti be in the future?!!
He actually had Emperor Roselle personally make something for him! No, it wasn't for him! It was for his niece!
Leonard's gaze towards his colleague had become incredibly complicated.
Could it be... could it be...
his mind was already a little dizzy.
Is this the protagonist of this era? He was also the protagonist of this era, no less so than Klein. With this thought, he straightened his chest.
Pales stole the thoughts of the host he was parasitizing and fell silent.
Damn it, not only is there the Sefirah Castle or rather the mysterious aura, but now there's also a Roselle... Why is there so much going on in this small Tingen city!?
Claire looked at everyone's stunned expressions, tilted her head, and asked in a doubtful tone,
“Should I continue?”
“Go on...”
Klein's tone was a little erratic, as if his soul had left his body.
“Oh, okay, where was I just now? Oh, right, I said the hairpin my uncle gave me is even better. Why?”
She boasted somewhat proudly,
“My uncle said that this Mystical item doesn't have the Beyonder characteristic Law of Aggregation, and it also has the ability to counter divination. It's very useful. If I'm about to be late for school, I can just open a door...”
At this point, she paused awkwardly, looked around, and found that they didn't seem to show any expression of concern about the idea of "being late for school", but their expressions were a little strange...
She muttered to herself, then pointed to a button and said,
“That's what Sister Amani gave me. If anything happens, I can hide myself for at least one minute.”
Hearing the name, Klein's spiritual initiation was slightly piqued. He couldn't figure out why, so he put it aside and continued listening to Little Claire's introduction.
“This was given to me by a bearded uncle. You can use it to enter dreams.”
(The direct translation was ‘You can play with it in dreams’ but it sounds weird so I changed it! Please do tell the right translation that sounds good if you know!)
She said this with a hint of eagerness in her tone, seeming very excited.
“It was so much fun in the dream! But there were a few times when I almost fell out of the dream boundary... Luckily, this belt seemed to have some protective effect...”
She became a little embarrassed as she spoke,
“But my uncle never told me the bearded uncle's name...”
Is it okay to let such a young child run around in dreams alone?!
Klein's eyebrows twitched. His heart nearly jumped into his throat when he heard the words
“Almost fell out of the dream.”
Luckily, it had the protective function.
He breathed a sigh of relief, cursing inwardly,
Why didn't I tell her his name?!
Otherwise, he would definitely curse it in his heart.
Claire changed the subject, pointing to the talismans/charms. She picked out a few and said,
“This is 'Yesterday once more' a charm my uncle gave me. He says it can draw strength from my past self, but it's not for me... It's made with the Time Worm that Grandpa Pallez gave me. My uncle never let Mr. Amon... give me the Worm of Time.”
Pallez, Amon... and the Worm of Time...
Dunn pondered the two names. He suddenly remembered that Amon seemed to be a duke from the fourth epoch... and that the Worm of Time might be a manifestation of a mythical creature...
Pallez lost his voice when he heard his name from Claire's mouth.
And there's Amon, there's actually Amon... Amon??
Pallez didn't expect that this kid's new colleague would be related to Amon in the future, and... seemed to have a good relationship with him?
But how did he know...
Pales glanced at the host and directly pushed the conclusion to him.
This kid must have told him!
Otherwise... he either deduced it himself or found out through something...
Pales sighed, this kid's secret is really big!
“This is the 'Slumber Charm', well, it's just as it sounds. And there's also this ‘Fooling Charm’. My uncle made it for me using his Spirit worm. Hehe. If you're in danger, you can crush this charm, and it will indiscriminately turn everyone around into idiots...”
Claire excitedly stated that she hadn't actually used the talisman yet!
The people around her were increasingly alarmed as they listened.
This little girl's knowledge of the mysticism was probably even greater than theirs!
And the magical items she possessed were enough to kill a Sequence Nine or Sequence Eight!
For Claire, killing a Sequence Nine was like stepping on an ant...
Pallez was already numb, and only when he heard the term "fooling" did he react.
That kid later became a "fool"?
Can this authority be given to people so casually?
At this time, people from the cathedral came.
“What's your name?”
“Claire Moretti.”
“Are you a Beyonder?”
“No, my uncle won't let me become a Beyonder.”
“Were all these mystical items given to you by your uncle and his friends?”
“I guess so.”
“What are your beliefs?”
“Fool.”
Crestet Cesimir nodded, but then uttered a "Hmm?" He had barely made a single dot of ink on the paper when he heard a name different from the seven orthodox deities. His brow furrowed as he asked seriously,
“Your family doesn't believe in evil gods, do they?”
However, according to investigation, Klein Moretti's entire family was devoted to the goddess.
“No, we don’t.”
Claire shook her head like a rattle.
“Uncle... Mr. Fool is a true god. After the apocalypse, he successfully became one of the Seven orthodox deities.”
That short sentence sent a wave of shockwaves through Cesimir's heart.
Apocalypse? So the apocalypse had passed? He remembered Dunn had told him Claire had come from the future, in the year 1372. So, she had survived the apocalypse? And He, The fool had become one of the Seven deities. Then who had perished?
Fool... Fool...
Klein was also listening in. He was now a strong suspect. Although the danger came from the future, the people in the Sanctuary still had their eyes on him.
Hearing the word "Fool," his brows twitched.
Oh, this? Melissa and Benson later knew he was the Fool? And... later, he became a god? He suppressed the shock on his face, as if it was just a momentary illusion.
But why didn't he return after becoming a god? Couldn't he return after becoming a god?
Klein suppressed the bitterness rising in his heart and listened attentively to Cesimir’s questions to his niece.
Cesimir pretended to be casual,
“You don't look nervous at all.”
Claire smiled sweetly and said,
“I was often captured by the church because of these mystical items on me, but I was always released later.”
“Why?”
“Because of my uncle.”
Cesimer raised an eyebrow and glanced at the slightly dazed Klein discreetly.
“What do you mean?”
“Yeah, it's Uncle. When they heard his name, they let me go after a while.”
She smiled shyly.
"But sometimes, if it's in the Church of Evernight, Uncle Leonard will bail me out."
Leonard?
Cesimir thought of the boy with dark hair, green eyes, and a poetic temperament.
He knew that Klein would be very famous in the future, but Leonard?
“Did he also become a deacon later?”
“I don't know about that, but I heard someone calling him His Highness.”
Cecimir's face was undeniably distorted a little.
“What about your uncle?”
Claire said seriously,
“My uncle is in the Church of The Fool. I can't tell you the details.”
Cesimir fell silent, remembering the little girl's words like "slumber", "spirit worm", "fooling".
He stood up, nodded, and gestured to Klein,
“I have received an oracle from the goddess, saying that in a few hours, days, or months, Claire will return to her original time and space.”
Klein breathed a sigh of relief and praised sincerely,
“Praise the goddess!”
Cecima looked at Klein meaningfully, then turned and left. The small interrogation room fell silent again.
What about Claire?
Klein grimaced. He couldn't just take Claire back and tell Benson that she was his future daughter, could he?
At this moment, he thought of a suitable candidate.
Yes! The poet classmate! And Claire knew him too! Just leave her with him and let him bring her to work.
But how do I tell him this...will he agree?
“Leonard.”
Klein called out to Leonard, who turned around with a puzzled look on his face.
“Um, I want to ask if you have anyone at home? A girlfriend... a boyfriend or something like that.”
Klein said a little embarrassedly.
“No.”
Leonard said with a smile, putting that little concern behind him.
“What are you thinking about?”
Klein rubbed his nose sheepishly and said,
“I'd like to ask if I can leave Claire with you?”
Leonard looked at Claire, then at Klein, a look of sudden enlightenment dawning on him.
But then he hesitated again,
"But I don't know how to take care of children."
He said so.
So Claire said,
"No, I'm very good!"
She ran over and held Leonard's hand. Klein smiled with relief, not noticing the subtle expression on Seeka's face. He said,
"Thank you for your help."
Original author’s note:
PS: Oh my god, it seems I can't finish it in one chapter.
And do my fellow lotm fans have any group that is active?! I really want to chat with people who share the same interests, but I can't get excited with many of the chats TAT